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  <title>Chapter 17</title>
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            <h1 class="title">Chapter 17</h1>
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          <h2 class="subtitle">Belah</h2>
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      <p class="first first-in-chapter first-full-width"><span class="first-letter first-letter-w">W</span>aiting was torture, but Belah couldn’t do anything else. She would’ve retreated to the Glade, but was too close to everything she’d ever wanted that she didn’t dare leave. The revelation that true happiness might be within her grasp made her restless. She wanted to do something, anything, to move the process along.</p>
      <p class="subsq">After three thousand years of simply existing, this impatience was foreign. The dread of fulfilling her promise to Nikhil tangled with her hope that Iszak and Lukas would be receptive to sharing her, once she’d given them time to work things out.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The only thing that helped distract her in the meantime was flying, which was tricky enough to do among the monolithic towers of the city. Her breath could cloak her somewhat, turning her scales reflective so that if anyone chose to gaze up at the sky, she was effectively transparent—but for the sake of complete concealment, she chose to have two Shadows accompany her when she went out. Nikhil would probably still be able to find her when he chose to call in her promise to him, but she could avoid betraying her true nature to the humans in the city while she flew.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Humanity itself was more fascinating up close than she could have imagined, even after watching the race’s progress through her reflecting pool. When she wasn’t flying, she let Erika and Geva be her tour guides, showing her around the city and introducing her to all its wonders. If she hadn’t found Iszak and Lukas so quickly, she would have enjoyed living in this world while she searched, simply existing as one of the billions of humans who had spread across the Earth in her absence.</p>
      <p class="subsq">A few nights after flying away from Lukas and Iszak’s anger-induced storm, Belah launched herself off the roof of Erika and Geva’s building and spread her wings wide to catch the thermal currents that constantly blew between the tall buildings. Her two guards followed close behind, their breath concealing them all so they looked like nothing more than wisps of fog drifting through the night. She’d promised herself she would wait until after she’d dealt with Nikhil to seek out the brothers again at their home near the water. But with each passing night, she could feel the link to them both tug at her. The bond was a strong one, and she wondered whether they would have sought her out directly if the Shadows hadn’t been there to blur the connection.</p>
      <p class="subsq">It didn’t matter, though. Not yet. She was still the Blue Beast who’d been responsible for creating their enemy. She couldn’t go to them again until she could prove she was worthy of their love.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She flew through the city, easily shutting out the din of wide-open human thoughts and emotions clamoring to reach her. In a way, the utter transparency of the race’s needs and desires comforted her. Humanity hadn’t changed a bit in all the centuries, despite their numbers and amazing advances in technology. They still craved a connection with others, and that craving was infectious. Belah wanted that, too.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Now that she could be an equal to a potential mate, she wanted that more than she ever had. She wanted to walk among the humans and be a woman—not a queen or a goddess. Iszak and Lukas made that desire ache even deeper inside her, because that’s all they knew her as—she may have been a member of the higher races, but to them, she was still just a woman. Not someone to worship without question, or grovel before because of the power she held. If anything, the music they played made her want to kneel before them and offer up her soul.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Because the place they took her was higher than she’d ever been, yet still provided an anchor. Their music was the anchor, she realized. In fact, it was more than that—it was an inexorable link that tethered her to them, and despite blocking out the sounds of everything but the wind, that music rose into the air and called to her even now.</p>
      <p class="subsq">At first she wondered if her mind had simply wandered back to her dreams, but when she focused, she knew she was hearing it again, and this time the score was whole. It wasn’t the incomplete half of a song that she’d heard from Lukas once, and then the other half from Iszak later. She didn’t have to fill in the blanks between their notes with her memories of her dream this time.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Mistress, are we changing course? If we return to the city, we’ll need to scout a secure place to shift when we land,” the Shadow flanking her on the left asked.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Just head toward the music. We’ll find a place there.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I hear no music, Mistress. You’ll have to lead us to it, if that’s where you wish to go.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">The music called to her, urging her to answer, and she couldn’t help herself. She sounded out a trumpeting cry that mimicked the lyrics she had sung to Iszak the other night, before realizing that the Shadows’ cloaking magic also dampened the sounds they made. She had to go to them, if only to hear the music in its entirety. They didn’t need to know she was there—not yet.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah tucked one wing closer to her body and banked to the right, homing in on the direction of the music. The Shadows adjusted their direction and picked up the pace to match. Within a few minutes, they circled above a brick building, and the Shadows led her down to the dark and deserted end of the adjoining alley.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The heavy beat of the music was as clear to her as if they were playing right in front of her. She should stay out here in the darkness and just listen, but a compulsion gripped her. She had to see them, had to know that the brothers had reconciled and were, indeed, collaborating on their mating call for her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She swiftly shifted into her human shape, and with a breath clothed herself in an outfit similar to that worn by one of the women leaving the club. A second later, Belah stood clad almost entirely in black leather, with a filmy, blue camisole beneath a fitted jacket that had the same supple weight as the jacket Lukas had let her wear. Tall boots hugged her feet and calves.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Beside her, the pair of Shadows followed suit, both large males choosing to conjure jeans, boots, and worn leather jackets.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“We’ll keep you cloaked, if that’s what you wish,” the larger Shadow offered in a deep voice.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah paused before stepping out of their hiding place, undecided. Should she let the brothers see her tonight? Let them know she’d answered their call? It was too soon yet, but she had no idea how long until Nikhil came for her. She had to see <i>them,</i> at least—just once more before she had to fulfill her promise to Nikhil.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Yes. I’m not ready for them to see me again just yet.” But Sweet Mother, did she want to. Without another word, she strode out of the shadows and toward the circle of illumination that surrounded the club’s entrance.</p>
      <p class="subsq">A few feet away from the guards standing outside, she expelled a long breath, sending it ahead of her to drift around their heads until they breathed her magic in. Mindlessly, one of them opened the door, and without any further interaction, she and her Shadows walked inside.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The music enveloped Belah, drawing her further and further in. She obeyed its undertow, allowing the Shadows to push ahead of her through the throng of bodies. The human patrons moved aside without argument.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Finally, they reached a dance floor where couples moved together, entwined in almost overtly sexual embraces, hips locked and rocking to the music.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The music took on a different rhythm and slightly different key in the dim interior of the bar than it had when she’d heard it in her dreams. There it had been an extremely sensual sound, but here, the beat of it rose through her feet, vibrating through her bones until Belah’s core ached to feel her own body moving in time, entwined with those two men who stood on stage, side-by-side, with their shining instruments to their lips. The heavy tremor of the bass drum and the bass guitar that beat behind them lent a hungry, primal sound to the song.</p>
      <p class="subsq">She needed contact. She needed to dance, because she knew she couldn’t sing if she wanted to remain unnoticed. She grabbed the hands of her Shadows and the pair moved in close, surrounding her.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>“Dance,”</i> she said to them both without speaking.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Neither hesitated, despite the whirl of uncertainty that she sensed in their minds. They were both unmated and would happily bed her if she asked, yet their task of protecting her came first. They may have doubted the wisdom of her request, but didn’t want to disobey her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">They slid into place, one in front and the other in back, their hips pressing to hers while they moved. She closed her eyes and imagined they were the pair on stage, holding her and writhing against her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The music drove her on, the contact of the two dragons as arousing to her as it was to them, and she twined her arms up around one Shadow’s neck, pulling him down into a kiss. The second their lips met, she knew she shouldn’t have. It didn’t feel right and she pulled away, abruptly putting space between her and her guards again. The Shadow looked surprised, then worried.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>“Mistress. It’s the music, isn’t it? Should we leave?”</i></p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah shook her head and darted her eyes away, feeling a warm flush rise to her cheeks. She continued dancing, and they did, too, adapting to the flow of bodies. Women gravitated to them, and they both eagerly danced with the willing ones. She didn’t object. They remained perfectly attuned to her despite their own desires. They cloaked her well enough that she could just stand and watch her lovers on stage without the crowd around her being aware.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>“How much do you know about why we’re here? How much information did the First Shadow share?” </i>she sent to them both.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The Shadow she’d kissed released the woman he’d been dancing with into his fellow Shadow’s grip and faced Belah. He squeezed her shoulder gently—a comforting gesture that she appreciated.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“<i>Kol only instructed us to guard you until you located your turul mate, and then it was up to you whether you wished us to continue to do so. We’re your servants unless you say otherwise.”</i> He tilted his chin toward the stage, and his voice reverberated again inside her mind. <i>“I’m guessing that, considering what we witnessed the other night, both those Wind Charmers up there have caught your attention. Is it true what they say about turul? They only have a single mate for life?”</i></p>
      <p class="subsq">A smile spread across Belah’s face, warmth pooling in her belly at the sight of the North brothers playing. They stood back-to-back now, leaning against each other, music streaming from their saxophones so strongly she could almost see the magic filling the room. They were so in sync. She wished she could find a way to be with them sooner rather than later.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>“It’s very true,”</i> she said. <i>“And I belong to them.”</i></p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>“Then we’ll guard you until you get what you need.”</i></p>
      <p class="subsq">When Iszak and Lukas parted and she saw past them toward the back of the stage, a chill went through her. Seated behind the drum kit was none other than Ozzie West—the turul who’d witnessed her exchange with Nikhil.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The events of the last few days converged, the threads coming together. The music Erika had played, the names she’d mentioned that first night. The music itself had been the impetus for Geva to seek out Sophia North in the first place. Then the date with Ozzie and its disastrous conclusion—he’d seen and heard her entire exchange with Nikhil. She’d entirely forgotten her worry when Lukas had revealed that Ozzie was part of their trio.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>“I need to get out of here, now!” </i>she said, broadcasting the thought loudly enough that both Shadows immediately came to attention as if a switch had been flipped. She didn’t have time to feel bad about pulling them away from potential mates. She couldn’t risk being discovered by someone who knew her true identity.</p>
      <p class="subsq">On the way back out to the alley, the other details began to piece together. The pictures she’d seen in Sophia North’s apartment … the brothers were in those pictures.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The photos had also featured the sister they had lost. And one other … A face she knew now. A face that was connected to her old lover. Nikhil’s newest Elite.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>Marcus.</i> The third Elite. She remembered seeing into his mind the day they’d met, learning his name and his secrets. Seeing a beauty of a woman with wings, and feeling the ache of need the man had to save that woman from her captors—from the very man he served.</p>
      <p class="subsq">If Marcus wanted to save her, that meant that Evie wasn’t dead. If Evie wasn’t dead, Belah’s new mates had no reason to hate her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">The revelation was too delicate to share with anyone else. She didn’t want Ozzie to see her, but more than that, she needed her brother’s wisdom.</p>
      <p class="subsq">In the darkness of the club’s alley, she and the Shadows shifted, and she led them to the top of a tall building nearby. The wind still carried strains of the music to her ears, and each errant note made her skin quiver with the urge to return to Iszak and Lukas. But with distance, her head cleared enough to focus entirely on the pair of black dragons who rested on their scaled haunches beside her.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>“Call my brother,”</i> she said.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Her guards exchanged a glance and their heads dipped suspiciously. She hated that she couldn’t read their thoughts at that moment, but Shadows were notoriously guarded, thanks to their own powers. Her brother was impossible to read if he didn’t wish it, but she knew him well enough to predict his behavior. Even though they’d agreed that only Belah would leave the Glade to complete the search for the mate from her dreams, she suspected her brother had followed.</p>
      <p class="subsq"><i>“I can’t reach him myself, but if I know Ked, he’s open to any and all communication from you two. How close is he? Call him now, or I’ll be forced to fly around the city trumpeting my irritation for the entire human world to hear.”</i></p>
      <p class="subsq">“No need for theatrics, sister,” a deep voice boomed from behind her.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah turned, shifting into her human shape at the same time. Several yards away her brother stood, clad from head to toe in black leather and almost blending into the shadows.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Do you have some addiction to meddling in my love life? You shouldn’t even be here, you know.” She took several irritated steps toward him.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“And yet you were about to raise Hell trying to get my attention, so I suppose it’s good I’ve been following you. What do you need? I hope you haven’t given up on finding your mate already.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Far from it. I’ve found both of them, and they’re more wonderful than I could have hoped for. Can you hear that music—the faint song that reminds me so much of Mother’s crooning when we were babies? That’s their mating call.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Ked tilted his head and his eyes grew hooded while he listened. Some almost imperceptible emotion flickered across his face, but was gone before Belah could understand what it was. He raised his head and said, “What of it? You were looking for a turul mate. Naturally, they would have a mating call that sounded like that. So why haven’t you answered them?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Oh, I did, several days ago. They just didn’t expect the same woman to answer both their calls on the same night. Like most siblings, they needed time to work out their differences. Now they have, but there’s something else standing in my way of being with them.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“If it’s your futile mission to convince Nikhil to give up the location of our son, you already know my feelings on that. He no doubt believes the second you have the information, he’s a dead man.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Nikhil still wants me enough that he already agreed. I’ll get the information from him somehow. But that’s not the issue. I decided I can’t wait any longer than I have to before I mark Iszak and Lukas and make them mine. The problem is they hate me. Or at least, they hate the ‘Blue Beast,’ who they believe was responsible for the Ultiori’s existence. They lost a sister … Are you listening to me?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">She strode over to her brother, who had a glazed expression with his face turned toward the center of the city.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Ked,” Belah said, gently pulling at his elbow. “What’s up with you? I’ve never seen you like this. You should head back to the Glade. Have Kris attend you for a night. Following me around without seeing to your own needs is a recipe for disaster.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Her brother shook his head, his thick, dark hair catching the wind and whipping around his face, but it couldn’t conceal the look of desperation in his eyes. Then it hit Belah full force—the raw emotions buried in her brother’s soul. Beyond all that darkness was a driving need to find the turul female she’d seen when he had shared his own dream.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I don’t need a <i>fuck,”</i> he said vehemently. “I need <i>her</i>. Something about that music sounds so much like the mating call from my dream, but it’s not quite right.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“The music …” Belah caught the rhythm and started humming, then softly sang the words that had come to her the night she’d found Iszak playing on his roof.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Ked’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he stared at her. “Where did you hear that? I never shared the song from my dream, only the images, but that’s exactly what she sang to me. How do you know those words?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“I don’t know,” she said. “The song came to me when I answered their call. Maybe …” Could it be? Here she was about to ask Ked to help her find a lost turul female. Was Fate that transparent? A chill went down her spine when Ked’s brows drew together as he waited for her to finish her thought. Before she could speak, he’d delved into her mind and pulled the details out for himself.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“They have a sister, or had a sister, who they believe was killed by the Ultiori. But she isn’t dead, is she? Tell me everything you know, Belah. Everything.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah took a deep breath and explained what little she knew. She told him about the photos of Iszak and Lukas with their sister, and the fourth figure, who she knew now was Nikhil’s newest Elite. She told Ked how when she’d met Marcus, he had clearly longed for a female turul who fit the North girl’s description perfectly.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“If you can rescue her, then I can face them with the news that their sister is alive. They will have no reason to hate me when I tell them the truth about who I am. Ked, I can’t mark them without them knowing everything. I might as well let Nikhil have me and return to Iszak and Lukas when all this is done, but it’ll kill me if I have to wait any longer for them. I know you feel what their music is doing to me.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Ked’s shoulders sagged. “You know how the Ultiori work. If we couldn’t find our own son by now, what makes you think we can find this turul?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Footsteps from behind made Belah turn. The two Shadows had been waiting at a polite distance, but their closeness and suddenly anxious demeanors told her they had something to say, but weren’t eager to share.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“What is it?” Ked barked.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“The missing turul, Master. Kol has had a squadron searching for one for several months now—it was a command left by his mother, the former First Shadow, prior to our Ascension. The exact instructions were to bring the news to you once she was found. The search has apparently been going on for years, but the original message is what you need to hear. ‘Tell the Void to find Iszak and Lukas North. Their sister is alive.’ It hasn’t been a priority since it’s a turul female, not a dragon, but the search is ongoing.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">As swiftly as if a light switch were flipped, the night went pitch-black, Ked’s power betraying how he’d received that ages-old moniker—<i>the Void</i>. Within the darkness, Belah sensed the fear rising to the surface in the poor Shadow who’d been the bearer of this unfortunate news to her brother.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“If the message was to tell <i>me</i> something, why am I just hearing this news now?” Ked’s voice rumbled darkly and so low, Belah was sure the humans in the city must hear thunder.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“We didn’t know the significance of your involvement. You’d have to ask the First Shadow for specifics on why he kept it quiet. Maybe he wanted to find her first. I’m sorry, Master. I don’t have any other information.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">The light gradually seeped back in through the unfiltered darkness of Ked’s mood and the Shadows both visibly relaxed.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Go now, both of you. Tell Kol this search is his <i>first</i> priority—he’s to drop everything else, and I do mean everything—and make sure I don’t see either of you again until the female turul is found.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Turning to Belah, he added, “<i>Your</i> priority is to go to the North Brothers and answer their mating call for real this time—make it permanent, sister. Tell them the truth. The news about their sister will have more impact coming from you once they learn your true identity. If Nikhil really does have my mate, then I want all the help we can get to get her away from the bastard—we need her brothers on our side. We need <i>everyone </i>on this.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Belah’s instinct was to argue with her brother’s plan. She’d spent so long wishing to find her babies again that following through on that singular mission seemed like it should take precedence. Yet somehow, she was relieved to be commanded by her brother to act contrary to her own convictions—to follow through with the more present urge to mate the pair of brothers sooner rather than later. Her need to find her children would never die. They may remain lost for a bit longer, but one thing she was sure of was that they were safely bound in their hibernating forms and nothing could break through that magic but the touch of their own fated mates.</p>
      <p class="subsq">“All right. Where will you be if I need you?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">Ked gave her a sad look. “When have you ever really needed me, Belah? I like to think I’m your protector, but you and I both know that I only get in the way. This is all as much my fault as it is yours. We <i>all</i> have a part in Nikhil’s existence. Perhaps you and I more than most, but never think I don’t know you’re the strongest of all of us. If he comes for you, do what you need to do. Just try to make sure you don’t put this turul female’s life on the line for the sake of old regrets.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">It hurt that he’d refer to her babies as regrets, but Ked was right. There were good reasons her son and daughter had been taken, and she shouldn’t risk the life of Iszak and Lukas’s sister on a reckless mission to get them back. The opportunity would still be there after she’d mated the North brothers. She quashed the ache of maternal longing in her belly and nodded, too choked up to voice her assent.</p>
      <p class="subsq">Just as Ked’s form began to shimmer and take on his true shape, she called out, “Her name is Evie.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">His brows lowered. “Who is?”</p>
      <p class="subsq">“Your mate, Brother. Her name is Evie North. We’ll save her together, I promise.”</p>
      <p class="subsq">With a final nod, he spread his wings and launched his enormous dark shape into the air. Almost immediately, he disappeared into the velvet blackness of the sky above.</p>
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